Annunciator



(No Model.) 2 heets -sheet 1. A. ROSENBERG.

ANNUNGIATOR.

No. 395,251. Patented Dec. 25, 1888.

lhographcr. Washington. D. cv

(No Model.) 8 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

I A. ROSENBERG.

ANNUNGIATOR.

No. 395,251. Patented D60. 25, 1888.

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I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

ALBERT ROSENBERG, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

ANNU-NCIATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 395,251, dated December 25, 1888.

Application filed Ma: 2S,1888i Serial No. 2%,809. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT RosENBEEo, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Annunciators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanical annunciators, in contradistinction to electrical annunciators, for buildings, more especially for private dwellings; and it has for its objects to provide novel. means for operating the signal-plates; to provide novel devices for supporting the signal-plates away from the sightopenings in the signal box or case; to provide novel means for releasing the signal ph'ues and permitting them to fall. over the sightopenings, and to provide novel means for operating the audible signal. These objects I accomplish by the features of construction and combinations of. devices hereinafter defor leading to two apartments or to doors of apartments in a lniilding; Fig. 2, an inside view of the signal-box, looking at the rear of the signal-plates; Fig. 3, a vertical broken sectional view taken on the line or r of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a detail perspective view of the locking-bar and pawl for holding a signal-plate away from the sight-opening in the signalbox; Fig. 5, a detail perspective view of a signal-plate; Fig. (i, a detail sectional view taken on the line 3] y, Fig. 2.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now de scribe the same in detail, referring to the drawings, wherein-- The numeral 1 indicates the signal box or case, of rectangular or other form suitable for the conditions required, and having a vertical faceplate, 2, provided with the required number of sight-openings 3, above which and upon or adjacent to the face-plate is located a horizontal bar, 4:, having end bearings, 5, for the journals of a horizontal crank-shaft, 6, one end of which extends through the box and is furnished with a suitable handle, as at 7,

.whereby the shaft may be turned or rocked.

each has an attached curved shank, .l, pivoted to the lower end of a bracket, 10, t'lepending from and secured to the horizontal bar 4:, and to the latter are also attached pendent arms ll, to each of which is pivoted intermediate its ends, as at 12, a bar, 13, arranged to vertically oscillate on its pivot in a plane paral lel. to the face-plate. This bar at one end, 11 is connected by a wire, cord, or similar connection, 15, with an apartment or door of a ward in the are of a circle on their pivotal attachment, as hereinafter explained, the said shanks will tip the pawls upward and ride past the bevel faces thereof until the shanks are brought to a position above the pawls, when the springs 19 will, by acting on the tailpieces, restore the pawls to their normal position in line with the bars 13, so that the shanks rest upon the upper sides of the pawls, and the signal-plates are thereby held away from the sight-openings 3 in the signal-box. The signal-plates are raised to the position described by connecting each with the horizontal crank-shaft 6 through the medium of a cord or other flexible connection, 20, so that when the crank part of the shaft is elevated by turning the handle 7 the signal-plate (one or more) which may be down over the sightopening is lifted therefrom out of view. The bars 13 at their end portions 14 are each con.- nected with one end of a spiral or other spring, 21, the opposite end of which is secured, as at 22, to the face-plate of the signal-box, and said end portion, 14, of each bar connects by a cord, wire, or other device, 213, with one arm of a bell-crank lever, 24, pivoted at its angle to a support, 25, in the signal-box, and having its other arm connected by a cord or wire, 26,

with an audible signalsuch as a bell, 27

for indicating attention to the annunciatorv when a call is made. In the present instance the audible signal is shown as simply a bell of the well-known clapper style mounted on a pivoted spring-ar1n, 28, to which the cord or wire 26 is attached.

In practice the cords or other connections 15 will extend to the apartments or to the doors of apartments through the medium of ordinary bell-crank levers, 29, Fig. i, and will be provided with any suitable pulls or handles, whichlatter it is not deemed necessary to illustrate. \Vhen a call is to be made, the person in the apartment or at the door of an apartment manipulates the pull or handle, which thereby draws the connection 15, and lifts the end portion, 14, of the bar 13 and depresses the opposite or pawl-carryin g end until the pawl is so far lowered as to be Withdrawn as a support to the shank of the signal-plate, whereupon the latter will. fall by gravity over a sight-opening. At the same time that the end 14 of the bar 13 is raised, as stated, to release the signal-plate, the cord or wire 25 is drawn, and the bell-crank lever 24 is rocked to pull the cord or wire 26 and cause the bell 27 to sound the signal that a signal-plate has been operated. \Vhen the pull or handle is released by the person after effecting the call, as stated, the spring 21 retracts the raised end ].-it of the bar 13 and causes its pawl end to rise until the bar and pawl stand in a horizontal plane, or approximately. The attendant at the office or signal box then operates the crank-shaft (S, causing its cord 20 to raise the signal-plate until its shank rides past the pawl and rests thereupon to hold it away from the sight-opening.

, It will be obvious that as the connections 20 between the crank-shaft and signal-plates are flexible one of the latter can be raised without disturbing any other.

The signal-plates will in practice be provided with the desired character to indicate the point from which the call is made, and the number of signal-plates, pawl-carrying bars, and necessary adjuncts will correspond with the number of apartments or doors from which calls are to be made. 1

The annuneiator is more especially designed for private dwellings to call servants; but obviously it can be used in hotels and other places where such contrivances may be desired.

\Vhat I claim is 1. The combination,with avertically-movable signal-plate arranged within a suitable casing-having a sight-opening, of a bar pivoted to swing in a vertical direction, an d having at one end a pivoted pawl arranged in the path of the arm carrying the signal-plate, and a wire or cord connected with the other end of the bar and leading to a point from which a call is to be made, substantially as described.

2. The combination,with a suspended swingingsigin'l-plate having a pivoted shank arranged in a suitable casin g, of a pawl-carrying bar pivoted between its ends, a pawl pivoted to one end of the bar and arranged in the path the pawl-carryin g bar pivoted intermediate its ends, a pawl pivoted to one end of the bar, and a wire or cord connected with the opposite end of the bar and leading to the point y from whence the call is to be made, substantially as described.

a. The combination, with a signal-box having a sight-opening and an audible signal, of apivoted signal-plate arranged in said casing to swing in front of said opening, a pawl-carrying bar pivoted intermediate its ends, a pawl pivoted to one end of the bar and having its end arranged in the path of movement of the shank carrying said signal-plate, and wires or cords respectively connecting the opposite end of the bar with the signal and the point from which the call is to be made, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the signal-box having a sight-opening and a crank-shaft in the box, of the pivoted signal-plate, a flexible connection between the crank-shaft and signal-plate, the horizontal pawl-carrying bar pivoted between its ends, and having at one end a pivoted spring-pawl arranged in the path of movement of the shank or arm carrying the signal-plate, and a wire or cord connecting the opposite end of the bar with the point from whence the call is to be made, substantially as, described.

6. The combination, with a signal-box having a sight-opening, a crank-shaft in the box, and a signal-bell, of a pivoted signal-plate, a flexible connection between the shaft and signal-plate, a horizontal bar having at one end a pivoted pawl arranged in the path of the shank or arm carrying said signal-plate, upwardly and downwardly extending cords or wires connected with the opposite end of the bar, and a bell-crank lever having one arm connected with the downwardly extending cord or wire and the other arm connected with the signal-bell, substantially as described.

7 The co1nbination,with the signal-box, of the suspended signal-plate having a shank pivoted at its upper end, means for raising the signal-plate and its shank, a horizontal bar having at one end a pivoted pawl past which the shank rides when elevated, a cord or wire connected with the opposite end of the bar for raising the same to. depress the pawl and release the signal-plate, and a signalsuch as a bell-connected with the end of the bar opposite the pawl, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with a' signal-box, of the horizontal stationary bracket, the signalplate having a shank pivoted to said bracket, the horizontal bar having at one end a pawl pivoted to the bar and provided with a tailpiece, a spring acting on the tail-piece to normally hold the pawl in line with the bar, means for raising the signal-plate and moving its shank past and to a point above the pawl, a cord or wire connected with the end of the bar opposite the pawl and extending to the point from whence the call is to be made, and an audible signal connected with the said opposite end of the bar and oper ated when the latter is elevated, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with a signal-box having a face-plate provided with a sight-opening, of a suspended swinging signal-plate, a bar pivoted between its ends to oscillate in a vertical plane parallel to 1he face-plate, a pawl pivoted to one end of the bar, means for 

